World

Netanyahu defies exit polls to lead Israel's count — but still short of a governing majority

Jerusalem • October 28, 2026 • By Press Pass USA

Editorial illustration: a crowd waving Israeli flags at night outside an election headquarters building

Editorial illustration — Press Pass USA

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pulled ahead Wednesday as votes were counted in Israel's election — but lost his parliamentary majority, leaving his path to another term dependent on drawing rivals into a coalition, Reuters reported.

With turnout in Tuesday's election at a record high and about 86% to 97% of votes tallied through Wednesday, Israel's broadcasters put Netanyahu's bloc of right-wing, far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties on course for 53 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, with the opposition bloc led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot trailing on 48. Parties representing Arab Israelis were projected to win 19 seats. Both blocs remained short of the 61 seats needed for a majority. The result reversed the election-night exit polls, which had shown Eisenkot's camp ahead and prompted Eisenkot to call on Netanyahu to accept defeat and retire from politics.

“Maybe it's hard to say it or to see it, but he's the winner,” former Netanyahu adviser Aviv Bushinsky said, describing the prime minister's comeback as a political “resurrection.” Regional analyst Danny Citrinowicz put it differently: “He won by not losing.” Despite the fallout from the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks and criticism of the security failures on his watch, Netanyahu won the support of an unexpectedly clear majority of Israeli Jews and emerged at the head of the largest bloc, Reuters reported.

Addressing his Likud party's faithful after 3 a.m. Wednesday at the party's election headquarters in Jerusalem, Netanyahu called for the formation of “a strong, right-wing national government” and raised the prospect of renewed joint military action against Iran alongside his ally, U.S. President Donald Trump. Eisenkot acknowledged Netanyahu was still in office as caretaker but said the prime minister had lost public support. Double-envelope ballots — from soldiers, diplomats, hospital patients and prisoners — are counted October 29, with official results due November 4; Netanyahu remains caretaker prime minister during any coalition negotiations, or until a new election in 2027 if none succeeds. This is a follow-up to Press Pass USA's October 28 partial-count report, not a duplicate of it.

Sources: Reuters (Oct 28, 2026); New York Post (Oct 28, 2026).